


Discretion

by orphan_account



Category: Insatiable (TV 2018)
Genre: M/M, Some vulgarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 16:41:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16067150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Barnard has it.Why it had to be just that single moment of vulnerability from Bob that sets things in motion.It's not like Barnard hasn't been witness to Bob's vulnerability before. But he's watched him go balding for years.





	Discretion

 

 

 

When they're young - Bob is a fox.

Well - Barnard is always a fox. Captain of the wrestling team, popular and well liked.

Bob, though not popular isn't particularly unliked. He's a theater nerd but what saves him are probably his looks. Pretty blondish hair, soft inviting jawline and his lovely Cindy Crawford-esque mole.

But they pick on him because Barnard picks on him.

It never goes too far. More so it's cajoling and exclusion - little barbs here and there. Barnard never goes out of his way to say anything cruel or hurt him. And everyone just likes him so damn much he doesn't get much trouble from anyone else either.

 

 

 

It happens in their early twenties.

Bob's beautiful blondish bob starts to thin a little, look a little shabby.

Barnard knows Bob and he'd never be caught dead looking less than one hundred percent. At first when he sees him around town and they both show their teeth at each other he thinks it's just stress. Girl problems maybe.

Bob's active on the pageant circuit as a coach and has, as far as Barnard can tell, given up theater.

Which is a real shame.

Barnard had snuck into a few of his plays and could watch him all day. And it's not just his partiality at work. Bob has talent.

Also, it's a shame because Barnard had been looking into signing up himself for community theater. Although he knows he shouldn't - he really shouldn't.

But the thought of catching Bob preening like a girl - well. He's caught him before of course. In school bathrooms, in front of his reflection at the grocery store. Always he gets this look when he gets caught, so embarrassed, that Barnard can't help but grin.

 

 

 

"Why Hi Bob." Barnard says, when he sees him in the shampoo section of the grocery aisle.

And - okay, so Barnard has been tailing him since produce. 

He's waited to spring though until he sees Bob picking up some rogaine off the shelf and can't control himself.

Bob looks utterly deer-caught-in-headlights and drops the bottle.

It doesn't spill at least, but it bounces right over to Barnard.

Bob tries to scramble for it but Barnard already has it in hand.

"Ro-gaine." He says, sounding it out like he doesn't know what it is.

"It's for my girl." Bob intones in a high pitched squeak.

_His girl._

Just like that the little world Barnard's been indulging in evaporates. Of course he knows Bob means his contestant. But it's still a reminder that he's panting over a heterosexual male.

That no matter how fey or delicate Bob might seem, he doesn't want a man like Barnard to notice these things and come top him. It isn't an invitation.

"Well, well - you _are_ looking a little thin - oh, not there, -" Barnard cracks unkindly at his weight, then spitefully, "I meant _up_ there. Could use a little of that yourself."

Bob's face kind of crumples, and Barnard immediately feels horrible about it.

He doesn't even have a come back. He just kind of awkwardly stands there, shifts, swallows, looks down.

Barnard wants to say something.

It's been a few years since high school, and he feels ashamed for acting out. It's not Bob's fault he doesn't reciprocate.

In the end though Barnard doesn't think of how to apologize fast enough. Bob shoves the bottle back on the shelf, in the wrong place in his hurry to leave. He bumps into his cart in his getaway, but he ends up leaving that too.

 

 

 

It's a few months after that when Bob's luscious locks make a miraculous come back.

He doesn't even have an awkward adjustment period. Instead it's flawless, nearly unnoticeable.

Barnard only notices because he notices everything about Bob.

Bob starts seeing Coralee, a woman he turns into a beauty queen. Barnard begins to frequent gay bars in the city. He brings men home.

He'd like to say he gives Bob some breather room after his last cruelty but he doesn't.

The next time they meet Bob is tentative, as if unsure Barnard is going to use his ammunition against him. Barnard doesn't bring it up of course. Brings up just about everything but. Eventually Bob relaxes.

For the next decade or so Barnard is only trying to keep up.

 

 

 

Stella Rose is a pit stop in a sea of men.

"Did he touch you like this?" Barnard asks, "What kind of sounds did he make?"

"His moans were so pretty." She says, "Everything about him was so pretty."

"Did you pull his hair?" He asks.

"No, he doesn't like to be touched there. Like I'm going to ruin his hair do."

Stella Rose doesn't know.

But Barnard does.

Somehow that brings him the satisfaction he needs to finish.

"He talks about you a lot." Stella Rose says afterwards.

"Really?" Barnard scoffs, "That guy? I don't think about him at all."

 

 

 

When Magnolia is old enough to start doing pageants Barnard promises himself he won't.

As he gets older though it sometimes feel like his constraint is slipping.

He's completely self satisfied that he gets to see Bob preen after all.

 

 

 

Barnard begins spiraling closer.

He really can't help it. It's the separation from Coralee that sets it into motion. Because Bob is alone now, _available_. It's how lost he looks. How sorry. His big fuck-me puppy dog eyes when Barnard talks about her.

Even he admits going over Bob's head to his own father is - too far.

That doesn't stop him though. Even though he knows it's wrong. Even though it's so totally inappropriate.

He wants to be closer.

And it isn't that he thinks - well, he doesn't hold out any hope for reciprocation.

But if he's just diligent enough, just there enough. He'll be able to solidify himself more firmly in Bob's life.

He's given up any hope that he'll get over him. Now, his goal is simply to be near him. To be as close as he possibly can to him. And just maybe one day he'll be close enough that Bob will let him blur some lines, that maybe Bob won't even notice those blurred lines.

What he really wants is to spend his life with this man. If it's as platonic soulmates Barnard figures that's something he can work with.

 

 

 

Until he messes it all up.

And oh - to be perfectly clear - he messes it up before that moment. By pressing Bob too hard on the issue of Coralee and implying he's not a man (and what had he been hoping to get? By pointing that out. By preening about how manly he was in comparison. That given the chance he could and would dominate the shit out of Bob. If anything he'd only pushed Bob further away).

But the most messing up of it all that he does is - well, he let's his temper get the better of him. It always does when things start to get physical - still, that's no excuse for the way he pulls the toupee off. He's almost sure it's an accident.

Bob's face isn't so...but it's still so similar to that one time that Barnard's anger immediately dies.

"Just...don't even start...save it okay..." Bob says, looking up at him and begging with his eyes for Barnard not to emotionally wound him.

"Bob..." Barnard says, can't not say, "You're beautiful."

And then they are kissing.

And really - it's hot. That Bob is so _exposed_ in front of Barnard. He means to say so but Bob runs out in a 'I-just-cheated-on-my-wife-and-discovered-I'm-gay' sort of way.

Barnard's never felt the thrill of the chase so strongly before.

More than that, he feels validated.

It's the only reason he can leisurely walk out, expression smug.

He knows, in his bones, that they're meant to be together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
